Gaming industry mergers and acquisitions reached $2.3 billion across 54 transactions in Q2 2026, the highest quarterly level since 2022, according to investment bank Aream & Co's latest Video Game Market Update.

What is driving the mid-market recovery?

Aream defines mid-market as gaming content acquisitions above $100 million. That segment reached its highest level since the pandemic boom, with activity concentrated in PC and mobile studios.

Notable Q2 deals include:

• Scopely's $1 billion acquisition of Loom
• Wemade founder Park Kwan-ho's planned sale of his 35% stake to Chinese investor NeoPulse
• PC-driven acquisitions involving Playstack and Fenris Creations/CCP

How did platform segments perform?

Mobile in-app purchase spending fell 4% year-on-year, while installs declined 12% to multi-year lows. Established titles continue to dominate: 65% of the top 20 grossing mobile games are at least four years old.

PC gaming grew 13% year-on-year, lifted by franchise sequels and new IP including Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2, 007: First Light, Pragmata, Mecha Chameleon, and Windrose.

Console held steady as a category, but platform performance diverged sharply:

• Nintendo revenue rose 90% year-on-year on Switch 2 hardware and software sales
• PlayStation revenue fell 5%, weighed by hardware weakness, partially offset by PSN services and digital software growth
• Xbox revenue declined 7%, reflecting a 33% drop in hardware and a 5% decrease in content and services

What is moving through public and private capital markets?

Public market fundraising climbed 67% year-on-year. Drivers include Liftoff's $0.5 billion IPO, PlaySimple's $0.35 billion listing plan, and Fellowship Entertainment's planned spin-off from Embracer.

Private investment value increased sixfold year-on-year to $3.1 billion. AdTech and AI technology drove the surge, with AppsFlyer valued at $1 billion, backed by MoldCo, DeepMind, Meta, and Unity, alongside AI studios General Intuition, Odyssey, and Decart.

Who is launching Stone Kite, and what is the studio making?

In a separate development, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones and former Destiny 2 narrative director Margaret Stohl have launched Stone Kite, a Los Angeles-based "world-building studio" debuting with its first IP, One Zero One.

Stone Kite's founding team includes former media SVP Stephen Wacker, president Lewis Paterson, film and TV VP Matt Johnson, and narrative creative director Jeanine Schaefer. The studio is collaborating with more than 250 creators across entertainment.

Partners include director Jay Roach, comic book writer and artist Christian Ward, illustrator Kyle Lambert, author Stephen Graham Jones, and screenwriter Akela Cooper. One Zero One centres on "a coming worldwide conflict between humanity and a rogue army of AI-driven robotic soldiers" and launches as a four-part comic book series, with new issues released online for free in early 2027.

Stohl, who serves as CEO, said: "I've spent my career creating books, games, comics, and television, and I've seen how often the medium that tells the first story ends up defining everything that comes after it. Stone Kite is about breaking down those old media silos."

Jones added: "Margie was the first person to believe I could write a book of my own, the first person to read it, and the one person I trusted to help me develop it into epic entertainment that leaves the world a better place."

Aream's report lands amid a market still searching for sustained exit velocity. The Liftoff IPO close and PlaySimple listing decision remain the next signals worth tracking.